Dedicated quiet time is no longer just a preschool program. Recent neuroscience research now shows that periods of solitude, including yoga and meditation, have a positive effect on the central nervous system and may improve individuals’ overall sense of well-being.[1] Time devoted to sessions of solitude for naval leaders can provide occasions to decompress, consider opposing views to recent events, and to paint a more coherent picture of one’s current situation or thoughts. This strengthening of thought and emotions forges a more lethal human weapon system, ready for the challenges of a complex technological environment through the use the age-old tradition of solitude.
Due to the benefits of frequent episodes of solitude, assigning periods of silence to the daily work schedule is growing in popularity across high functioning organizations.[2] In essence, the only way to prepare the human weapon for the toils of the future is to slow down and think. This deliberate thought arguably is more important to a military organization than standardized physical requirements (regardless of warfare area), and ensuring Sailors are developing the ability to think is an essential trait for commands set on improving performance. Improved thinking will require not only increased comprehension but enhanced skills of reconciling previous acts and experiences, thus the leader must have honed skills in reflection.
Thinking leaders regularly plan at good commands, but those at great commands continually dissect their plans and contrast the tactical-level details with the broader operational and strategic objectives. The ability to plan with a critical eye can only occur in an environment that welcomes free and reflective thought at various levels. As we live in an accelerated, connected world that accepts multitasking as the norm, maintaining a productive freethinking environment is becoming more challenging as we unknowingly spread the notion that continuous work and shortened daily whitespace is the only path to success. Unfortunately, by immersing and acquiescing to this paradigm we are neglecting the conceivable reality that we are all just frogs in a slowly warming pot of water. It is far too easy for leadership to assume past performances are acceptable. To most commands, a proposal to increase personal development whitespace does not carry a large enough return on investment, blinding the leadership from the reality that a renewed focus on reflection will have a direct, positive impact on the command’s readiness.
From Einstein to Eisenhower and Spruance, solitude and reflection have been a vital part of great thinking leaders’ daily rhythms for centuries.[3] As a benefactor of initiating solitude periods, Sailors who regularly reflect will become more self-aware with improved emotional stability, will acquire superb skills in compartmentalization, and will have an increased aptitude to reconcile past experiences. A command that is able to overcome the stigma of constant multitasking that dedicates time for solitude will improve as an organization through improved human performance, uncovering unwanted command biases, and more easily breaking paradigms that hinder creativity.[4] Ultimately, three primary characteristics will be observed from Sailors that practice regular periods of reflective thinking: acute ability to identify and reconcile mistakes, unwavering ability to improve self-discipline, and a relentless pursuit of new challenges.
Identify and reconcile mistakes.
Mistakes come in many forms: lackluster performance, poor decisions, unclear communications, or unknown amounts of incompetency. We all have failed and will continue to fail in the future, but it is important to concede that when a shipmate fails they are not a failure;[5] instead they were just unable to attain a goal or meet expectations. Frequent bouts of reflection to assess our failings benefit at both the individual and command level. As Captain Thebaud noted 81 years ago, “A ship, like the Navy, is as good as the men in that ship – no better.”[6] Recognizing our failings is a key aspect of growth, just as physical strength is significantly enhanced through regularly failing muscle fibers. Just as muscle failure requires a subsequent repair period, our cognitive areas require reflection to allow us to grow.
Time for reflection provides Sailors with chances to grow from mistakes. Silent thought can bring the weight of poor decisions to bear and contribute to a broader level appreciation of the impact of previous errors. By taking time to consider notes, journal entries, previous lessons, and professional accounts reflective leaders will have opportunities to sharpen self-assessment skills and redesign near-term goals. Additionally, by facing one’s misgivings, a leader indirectly communicates openness to critical feedback and change and thus advocates this behavior within his or her command. Often, junior leaders are tasked to identify risks with recommended mitigation for upcoming events, yet it is normally the seasoned leader (after weighing the perceived risk with the reality of execution) that provides the thorough analysis. This approach limits the amount of forceful backup existing at a command as the junior Sailors have less accountability to the problem.
If leaders at a command do not allow Sailors to fail, it is likely due to a concern for near-term priorities coupled with poor preparation. Reflective thinking develops the junior leader’s parameters for urgency (i.e. talent for sniffing out bad situations) and it only comes with continued experience and contemplation on past failure patterns and trends. When senior leaders act in support of juniors and deflect them from immediate shame of mistakes, this is at the detriment of further growth, eroding all previous sense of accountability. This form of taking care of a shipmate will have a negative impact on the command’s performance and its culture of accepting risk.
The living human system is made up of hundreds of interconnected feedback loops that analyze input and output for constant regulation. To assume that an easily constructed, comprehensive feedback loop for human decision making exists is to overlook the complexity of human behavior. Just as the body is composed of complex systems, human decision-making is immensely complex.[7] Many models have been designed to dumb this down, but they fail at their assumption of rationality.
The planning, briefing, execution, debrief (PBED) concept is a recently accepted model by some warfare communities to address process improvement during complex events/actions. PBED is described as a deliberate methodology to improve task execution while demanding that communication occurs (briefing and debriefing) between key players and encouraging feedback. But in contrast to John Boyd’s observe, orient, decide, act (OODA) loop, PBED misses an aspect that is critical for decision makers—orienting. Although Boyd’s model originally was based on an individual pilot’s decision-making process, it has been repeatedly expounded at the organizational level. A command that represents decision making through the OODA loop has the advantage to separate orientation from observation, whereas a PBED-based command only can assume that members are skillfully reorienting after the scheduled debrief. This difference in choosing the PBED model over OODA is not mere semantics, but a representation of cultural differences among Navy organizations, which is embodied in the surface community; planning and “lessons” often are just another bullet on a checklist. Regardless of future decision-making models, it is imperative that orientation is incorporated in to current leaders’ lexicon and used in decision-making.
PBED does dedicate an entire step to debriefing, but the model implies that feedback will occur in the very immediacy of the event. In the PBED cycle, it is difficult for leadership to thoroughly contrast after-action strengths and weaknesses without dedicating resources (time and space) later in the day/week to decompress and ponder past experiences. Complicating this balance of resources in our accelerating world, time is becoming the naval leader’s most valuable resource and the constant pressure to ease this burden results in a daily scramble to accomplish as much as possible. In a compressed schedule, the “debrief” can be a command’s single point of failure for growth, as it limits the discussion to that 30-to-45-minute block. While a dedicated “hotwash” forces a fresh discussion, without time to later reflect, this check-in-the-box approach washes our hands of further consideration. Demanding and modeling a more effective feedback cycle than PBED will encourage followers to share more robust observations and ensure good communication skills are flourishing.[8]
Improved Self-Discipline and Fortitude.
A “ready” warfighter requires requisite training and education to be competent but also requires the highest degree of self-discipline. This involves strictly controlling the cognitive focus of effort to what is required and also restraining from performing tasks that either detract or distract from the mission at hand. Through repeated chances to acknowledge faults in self-control, reflective thinkers gradually build the ability to maintain focus on high-priority tasks that require fixated attention, such as maintaining a vigilant watch or conducting procedural compliance. Conversely, command cultures that regularly allow Sailors to unknowingly veer off task or endeavor to execute multiple superfluous tasks are encouraging substandard self-discipline traits and risk generating decreased combat readiness. To better inhibit future distractions, leaders skilled in reflection will be able to identify past experiences of failed self-restraint in both themselves and their watchteam. Since reflective thinking highlights past errors in judgment and self-discipline, it enables Sailors to quickly identify key areas for self-improvement.
This balance of self-restraint and self-control has been covered in previous leadership works,[9] but it bears repeating. To exhibit fortitude requires an inner strength to drive on when the odds seem against you, and this strength comes from confidence both in preparation and imminent execution—knowing that mission accomplishment is the priority. By dedicating frequent time for reflection, commands ensure that leaders can more frequently gauge their own self-discipline, as well as their fellow shipmates. Improved self-discipline from reflective thinking requires leaders to continue to contemplate previous behavior against their own virtues and personal beliefs and to develop a robust “moral imagination.”[10] This self-awareness multiplies the leader’s self-confidence, and through consistent acts of self-discipline they develop confidence with their followers, increasing command fortitude.
Refined Vision and New Opportunities.
An imperative characteristic of great leaders is their ability to inspire followers through their vision of success. Developing vision requires foreseeing pitfalls and understanding the necessary actions to correct the course along the way. Performing dedicated reflection that identifies mistakes and exposes errors in self-discipline will result in Sailors able to recognize new opportunities while simultaneously examining future challenges with a more mature risk assessment. Through reflective thinking, the leader correctly assesses the required level of challenge necessary for growth and generates a coherent path forward for the team; a significant feature of high-functioning organizations. Younger Sailors are attracted to self-actualization and being employed for a greater purpose.[11] Through appropriate solitude, senior leaders can further cultivate young leaders’ growth by encouraging the accomplishment of progressively more difficult challenges.
A leader armed with a lucid vision and revised intermediate objectives will require greater communication skills to articulate the reenergized focus for success to followers, of which a reflective thinking leader will be more capable of developing and delivering. Just as planning to conduct a PRT for the mere minimum standards will almost never result in an outstanding performance, a command’s vision will be out of sync or beyond reach if the correct opportunities for growth are not identified and challenged. By encouraging an environment with openness for dialogue and dedicated time for reflection, command leadership will only reap the best attributes of our future senior leaders.[12]
Reflection best practices.
Dedicate. The first and most important step is to invest in time for reflection. If the plan of the week has no whitespace, then the command is not promoting self-reflection. Since many “a-ha” moments occur in unexpected spots such as the morning shower or while on a quiet run, the command that builds dedicated time for reflection or professional military development is increasing the likelihood that leaders will become more competent in self-reflection. The time allotted does not need to be substantial; 20-30 minutes of complete quiet and focus can benefit our Sailors immensely. In addition to set time, the command must ensure locations designed to abide by the silent time are free such as a library, lounge, or messdecks. Additionally, experienced leaders should mentor juniors on maintaining a journal during this time. A valuable journal is not used to solely capture all completed tasks, but instead to describe key events and associated personal observations. By providing young Sailors valuable skills such as writing in the first person, effective note taking, and reviewing books, journals, and periodicals will launch the crew into a new atmosphere of solitude.
Disconnect. In order to be silent, you must shut off all of the technology. Although the acceleration of 21st-century technology is providing vastly more information to our screens, this has been impeding our ability to slow down and collect our thoughts.[13] When the command’s schedule has been modified to allow periods of reflection, the command is doing harm to productivity if Sailors have open access—or worse—are encouraged to multitask. In its place should be dedicated time to focus and, over time, the voices in our heads will be replaced with quiet and clarity. There is nothing more satisfying or liberating than a set period of time with no PowerPoint or emails to fill our cranial inbox, and just as solitude is extremely important for productive bouts of creativity, reflection must also be unimpeded for real results. [14] Instead of flag officers accepting weekly emails that include a complete and exhaustive list of all ship CASREPs, they will encourage cultivated thought and demand concise updates from their commanding officers. In the future, leaders will understand that a drive for more information, inadvertently creates commanders slaved to the keyboard—data processors versus critical thinkers.
Discuss. Reflective leaders also must not limit their development to written word. The value in reflection is that a leader transcends mere level of knowledge and rote repeat-back tasks (e.g. equipment parameters, standard procedures, and tactics) and is empowered to reconcile various experiences (personal, peers, historical) to develop a more comprehensive understanding. Understanding is the ultimate goal of a thinking leader, not knowledge. After reviewing, considering and comparing thoughts with previous experiences, industrious reconciliation likely will require you to bounce ideas off peers and shipmates. The sharing of healthy ideas between division officers and chief petty officers provides a chance to consider alternatives to problems or topics while contributing to a positive personal relationship. A beginning leader can share important aspects of their personal vision with peers to consider the strengths and weakness of their vision. This would empower the leader to describe what success looks like to their followers through clear focus and realistic goals.[15] By regularly discussing each other’s thoughts, Sailors also can work on an active-solitude skill (or receive-only mode); this encourages others to provide uninterrupted feedback to the leader. This uncomfortable behavior provides the recipient with a full picture while simultaneously encouraging a positive communication environment.
In our constantly changing, interconnected reality it is imperative that we slow down and think. This only can be accomplished if we dedicate time for solitude and reflection. Just as our children need time to digest new ideas and observations, in the highly accelerated and complex future, our great leaders will be those competent in reflective thought, self-awareness and self-critique, and communicating an improved vision, as well as extremely strong due to firm self-discipline and character. These great thinking leaders will be the bedrock of our future success and the foundation for a stronger Navy. Semper Fortis!
Endnotes
[1] Cahn B.R., Goodman M.S., Peterson C.T., Maturi R. and Mills P.J. (2017) Yoga, Meditation and Mind-Body Health: Increased BDNF, Cortisol Awakening Response, and Altered Inflammatory Marker Expression after a 3-Month Yoga and Meditation Retreat. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 11:315. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00315
[2] William Deresiewicz, “Solitude and Leadership. If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts”, The American Scholar, 01 March 2010, https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/#
[3] Zat Rana, “I’ve adopted a ‘2-hour rule’ based on the habit that led Einstein, Darwin, and Nietzsche to brilliance — and it’s had the highest ROI of anything I’ve done”, Business Insider, 28 August 2017, http://www.businessinsider.com/i-created-a-2-hour-rule-based-einsteins-habits-2017-8?amp; Thomas B. Buell, The Quiet Warrior – A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1974), 152-155.
[4] Josh Jones, “How information overload robs us of our creativity”, Open Culture, 05 August 2017, http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/how-information-overload-robs-us-of-our-creativity.html
[5] Captain Rafiel D. Warfield, “Three Letters Make the Difference: Failing is Not Failure,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 140, no. 12 (December 2014).
[6] Rear Admiral Harley F. Cope, Command at Sea, Third Edition, (Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute, 1966), Appendix III, 480.
[7] Georgia Frances King, “A neuroscientist explains why we can’t see the world objectively—and humanity is better for it,” Quartz, 03 May 2017, https://qz.com/973116/a-neuroscientist-explains-why-we-evolved-to-be-curious/
[8] Adam Fridman, “Why Reflective Leadership Is the Key to a Successful Purpose Transformation,” Inc., 18 August 2017, https://www.inc.com/adam-fridman/why-reflective-leadership-is-the-key-to-a-successf.html
[9] Karel Montor, Ph.D, et. al., Naval Leadership – Voices of Experience, Second Edition, (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998), 44-50.
[10] David Petraeus, “As machines wage war, human nature endures,” The Straits Times, 09 April 2017, http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/as-machines-wage-war-human-nature-endures
[11] Louis Efron, “Why Millenials Don’t Want to Work for You,” Forbes, 13 December 2015, https://www.forbes.com/sites/louisefron/2015/12/13/why-millennials-dont-want-to-work-for-you/
[12] Fridman, Ibid.
[13] Thomas L. Friedman, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016).
[14] Emma Seppälä, “Happiness research shows the biggest obstacle to creativity is being too busy,” Quartz, 08 May 2017, https://qz.com/978018/happiness-research-shows-the-biggest-obstacle-to-creativity-is-being-too-busy/?utm_source=qzfb; Jonathan Smallwood and Jonathan W. Schooler, The Science of Mind Wandering: Empirically Navigating the Stream of Consciousness, Annual Review of Psychology 2015 66:1, 487-518; Shira Baror and Moshe Bar, Associative Activation and Its Relation to Exploration and Exploitation in the Brain, Psychological Science 2016 27:6, 776-789, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616634487
[15] Captain Christopher H. Johnson, “Where’s the Chief?” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 121, no.2 (February 1995), 64-66.
